Nick McKenzie and Richard Baker

Under scrutiny: Radovan Laski is being investigated by federal authorities. Photo: Penny Stephens

Federal police and immigration department officials have raided the offices of the alleged ringleader of a long-running migration and education racket that exploited dozens of overseas students and workers.

Police are investigating Radovan Laski and his network of associates - including a former senior Immigration Department official - after they allegedly duped the students and workers into paying up to $40,000 after being falsely promised Australian residency or working visas.

Mr Laski has been able to continue operating his business, and seek to rip off more overseas students and workers, despite being the subject of multiple complaints to the Immigration Department and police.

Officials raided Mr Laski's offices in December.

Fairfax Media can also reveal that a group of Indian workers and students have - after losing faith in the ability of authorities to investigate Mr Laski - launched legal cases in Victorian courts aimed at recouping tens of thousands of dollars they paid him.

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Several of the cases were resolved last week in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, but their outcomes were suppressed by the court.

A Victoria Police detective informed one complainant in March last year that authorities were "awaiting the completion of the DIAC [Immigration Department] assessment before proceeding any further with the investigation" into Mr Laski.

Documents obtained by Fairfax Media show that in the months after this email was sent, Mr Laski continued to attempt to convince overseas workers to pay him up to $40,000 in return for his help in getting them a working visa and permanent residency.

The raids on Mr Laski's offices in December came six months after Fairfax Media first reported he was among several allegedly corrupt Australian businessmen falsely promising to arrange visas and work for hopeful migrants.

Some of the overseas workers allegedly duped by Mr Laski were promised jobs in skilled working environments but ended up being sent to work in regional abattoirs.

The ongoing investigation into Mr Laski looms as a major test for the Immigration Department among claims from unions and Labor that the nation's foreign worker visa schemes are being exploited by unscrupulous businesses operating with minimal regulation and policing.

Sources in the department said that the ability of Mr Laski to operate under the nose of authorities exposed deep problems inside the department's investigation arm.

The Abbott government recently reopened a visa loophole that allows employers to hire an unlimited number of foreign workers under a temporary working visa in a move the ACTU warned would lead to rorting of the system.

The chief executive officer of the Consumer Action Law Centre, Gerard Brody, said he had written to federal and state government agencies to warn them that lax policing and regulation was enabling crooked migration and employment-placement businesses to flourish.

"There is a huge and growing market of overseas students and workers who are convinced to hand over huge amounts of money to these traders who operate in this unregulated space,'' he said.

"There needs to be a much greater regulation to get the shonky operators of the system." Mr Laski reaped $4 million by convincing up to 100 Indians to hand over up to $40,000 after promising to help them get a 187 visa, which allows a skilled worker to get permanent residency if they are sponsored by a regional employer.

But Mr Laski failed to find many of the workers the promised jobs and sponsorship.

It is illegal for anyone but a migration agent to offer migration advice. Despite this, Mr Laski promised overseas workers "permanent residency in six months" if they paid him large fees.